So Conn Iggulden’s Ghengis Khan and sons juggernaut rolls onwards in to its second volume, reflecting the relentless rise of the Mongol nation as forged by the great Khan. Like its predecessor, Wolf of the Plains, this is an effective and enjoyable book. At the end of of the first volume, the seeds of the unified Mongol nation had been sown, and Ghengis was consolidating his hold on the people of the steppe – as the second opens, he is fighting the last battle that was needed to bring all the tribes under his control, and needless to say, his victory is never in doubt. Having brought together his people, a process whose details Iggulden largely glosses over in the interests of maintaining the pace, Ghengis decides to turn his warrior hordes on the Chinese kingdoms, whose interference in the life of the steppe tribes had kept them weak for hundreds of years. First to feel his wrath are the Xi Xia, against whom he has to learn some hard lessons about fortifications, canals, city life and much else besides.

When the Xi Xia surrender and become a vassal nation, Ghengis moves onwards to the lands of the Chin – at this point, the story divides between a mission to the lands of the Chin by two of Ghengis’s brothers (which I found dragged a little), and life back at camp, where the Khan’s awkward relationship with his eldest son, who he believes to be the bastard offspring of his wife’s rape in the first volume, is a great illustration that Ghengis is not all powerful when it comes to his own family. Once the mission from the Chin returns, with a master mason, siege engines can be built and the progress of grinding down the fortified Chin cities can begin.

The major climax to the book is the battle of Badger’s Mouth pass, where the massed ranks of the Chin are undone by their own underestimation of the abilities of the Mongols, and by a daring manouvre to outflank the Great Wall by 10,000 Mongol warriors. The battle is thrillingly described and the reckless courage of the Mongols makes for a very effective set piece.

By the conclusion, Ghengis has had enough of China, and is turning his attention westward at a time when he had the whole nation at his feet – he never did make it as far as the Pacific, or press home his advantage. The contrast of cultures between the rugged nomadic Mongols and the sophisticated Chin is effectively illustrated, and the mannered and courtly ways of the Chin do them few favours – they are a stagnant society, unable to cope with the vigorous Mongol scourge. We also see new characters introduced to the dynamics of Ghengis’s inner circle – a martial Buddhist monk and the sinister charlatan shaman Kokchu – and the change in his brother Temuge is interesting too. All in all, Lords of the Bow is an effective continuation of the series that started with Wolf of the Plains. Although the pace dropped off slightly in the middle, I still enjoyed the tale overall, and look forward to reading volume three, Bones of the Hills.

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